Radio navigation device



July 16, 1940. D, G C. LUCK 2,208,379

RADIO NAVIGATION DEVICE4 Filed Jan. 3l, 1939 Patented July 16, 1940 @www RADIO NAVIGATION DEVICE David e. o. Luck, oaklyn, N. J., assignor to Radio Corporation of America, a corporation of Dela- Ware n Application January 31,1939, Serial No. 253,891

6 Claims.

This invention relates to radio navigation devices in which radio and earth compass headings and radio bearings may be indicated on a single device. The invention further relates to a device for automatically indicating position from resultant radio bearings.

In the use of radio Compasses on ships and airplanes, the radio compass indicates the heading of the ship with respect to a radio transmitter, and in order to convert the radio heading into a true bearing, it becomes necessary to refer to the earth compass heading. Devices have been proposed in which the earth compass card is associated with the radio compass indicator so that the radio headings may be observed in terms of the ships earth heading; thus radio bearings with respect to a meridian may be obtained. In such devices it is difiicult to use repeaters so that more than one indicator may be located at different positions on the ship and operated by a single earth and radio compass. Furthermore, it is diiiicult to directly indicate position by observing successively two or more radio bearings.

Among the objects of the present invention is the provision of means for readily indicating on a single instrument radio and earth compass headings as well as the radio bearing. It is a further object to provide means for repeating radio and earth compass headings and radio bearings upon a plurality of cathode ray indicators. It is a still further object to provide means for directly indicating position by the intersection of two or more radio bearings. It is a still further object to provide means for repeating the position of a radio receiver on a plurality of maps operated by a single earth and radio compass device. The invention will be described by referring to the accompanying drawing in which Figures l and 2 are schematic Wiring diagrams representing one embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 represents a potentiometer from which voltages are derived having a sine wave form; and Figure 4 represents a position indicator of the cathode ray type.

Referring to Fig. l, a source of alternating current l is impressed by means of transformer 3 upon a potentiometer 5 which will hereinafter be described. The terminals of the potentiometer 5 are connected through resistors aa to a second potentiometer -which is similar to the firstmentioned potentiometer.` The rst potentiometer includes four contact members 9, ll, 13, l5. These contact members are connected respectively to the fixed contacts N1, E1, Si, W1 of four three-position switches N, E, S, W. The

second potentiometer 7 includes four contacts Il, I9, 2|, 23. These last-mentioned contacts are connected respectively to the second switch points N2, Ez, S2, W2 of the four three-position switches. The four movable contacts of the three-position switches are connected respectively to the deflecting electrodes 25, 2l, 29, 3l of a cathode ray tube 33. The four three-position switches may be operated in synchrcnism by a motor 35.

The construction of the two potentiometers 5, 1 is illustrated in Fig. 3. Four circular contact rings 35, 3l, il are fixedly arranged in pairs to form two iigures of eight. The figures of eight are displaced and arranged in parallel planes. The common portion of each gure of eight is insulated so that each ring forms a separate contact which engages a resistor 43 which has a uniform resistance per unit length. This resistor is mechanically coupled to a shaft 6l. Suitable slip ring connections or flexible leads at the terminals of the resistor 43 are connected to the source of alternating current, as previously explained. In the case of the first potentiometer, the shaft il is connected to an earth compass repeater motor @9 (see Fig. 1) The second potentiometer is constructed similar to the first, but its shaft is coupled to the selforienting loop of a radio compass 5i. It can be shown that the circular contacts 35, 3l of the potentiometers derive potentials which vary, in the case of one figure of eight, as the cosine of the angle between the line through the centers of the circles and the longitudinal axis of the resistor d3. In the case of the other circular contacts 39, di the potential varies as the sine of the same angle because oi" the 90 spacing between the center lines of the contacts.

The operation of the circuit arrangement of Fig. 1 is as follows: When the four switches engage the contacts N1, Ei, Si, Wi, the rstmentioned potentiometer 5 is connected to the deflecting plates 25, 21, 29, 3l. The potentials applied to the vertical plates N1, Si will vary as the cos. 01. The horizontal deflecting electrodes are connected to the potentiometer so that the applied potentials vary as sin 01. The angle 01 is adjusted so that it corresponds to the earth compass heading. Therefore, the applied potentials will deiiect the cathode ray to form a trace 53 which is disposed at an angle corresponding to the earth compass heading.

When the four switches are in the respective positions N2, E2, S2, W2, the first potentiometer 5 is disconnected and the deflecting electrodes 25,

are less than those applied to the first poten-l tiometer 5 by virtue of the potential drop in the series resistors a-a, the resulting cathode ray trace 55 will have a shorter length andA may thereby be identified. In order that ambiguitymay be avoided, itis preferable to connect the control grid 51 of the cathode ray tube so that it derives a biasing potential from the source l. a fairly highrate, '20 times per second, by way of example, the cathode ray traces 53, 55 will appear persistent and thereby the' device will simultaneously indicate the earth compass heading and the radio compass heading.

In order that the earth and radio compass headings may be combined and the resulting radio bearings be indicated, it is necessary to apply deflecting potentials cos (01+02-180) and sin (014-622-1800. The solutions of these trigonometric functions are as follows:

Potentials corresponding to these functions may be derived by connecting contacts 9v and il through series resistors b-b to a third potentiometer 59 and contacts i3, I5 through series resistors b'-b' to a fourth potentiometer 6M. The last-mentioned potentiometers 59, 64 nclude'circular contacts 63, 6l and 69, 1I. These contacts are connected respectivelyto the four contacts N3, W3, Es, S3 of the three-position switches N, E, S, W. It may now be explained that in actual practice the circuits illustrated in Figs. l and 2 are combined. In this application, to avoid confusion the circuits have been separated and thus simplified. The connections of potentiometers ,5 and l which are shown in Fig. l are omitted in Fig. 2. The resistors, which form the third and fourth potentiometers 59 and 64 respectively, are constructed as previously described by reference to Fig. 3. The resistors 159 and 64 are ganged and operated by a connection to the selforenting radio compass. The function of the series resistors b-b and b'-b\ is to reduce the applied potentials so that the cathode ray trace 'I3 is made shorter than the traces corresponding to the earth compass and radio compass headings.

The operation of the system described is essentially similar to the operation of the circuit arrangement of Fig. 1 with the exceptions: that the potentials of contact 63 is represented bythe function -cos 61 cos 02; the contact 6l byy the function -1-cos 61 sin 02; the contact 69 by the function sin 01 cos 02; and the fourth contact ll by the function sin 01 sin 02. Thus, it will be seen that these functions correspond with the terms of the equations set forth above, except that the potentials applied to the south and west deecting plates areY reversed in sign because these plates produce deflections directed oppositely from those produced by the north and eastllltes. It may be seen that the potentials If the switch contacts are operated at applied to the third potentiometer 59 vary as cos 01 while the potentials across the fourth potentiometer 64 vary as sin 01. Since the positions of the resistors of the third and fourth e potentiometers 59 and 64 assin 02, and since pass heading to thereby indicate the radio bearing. Of course, the resistances 59 and 64 must be made very much greater than the resistance 9 for this to be accurately true.

In accordance with well known principles of navigation, positions may be fixed by the intersection of bearings of the mobile craft from Ytwo fixed points. The present system lends itself readily to position fixing by employing a pair of cathode ray tubes which may be arranged to simultaneously indicate a pair of radio bearings which,'when plotted on a map, give rise Vto an intersection which indicatesv position. In some installations, it may be desirable to directly in` dicate such intersections by employing either double sets of electrodes within a single cathode ray tube or'by employing D. C. biasing potentials as proposed by Vladimir K. Zworykin in his ccpending application, Serial No. 165,454, filed September 24, 1937, entitled Radio course indicator. In either type of installation the resultant indications are shown in Fig. 4 in which the intersection of'the straight lines represents the position of the receiving device with respect to a map of the adjacent territory.

Thus, the invention has been described as a radio navigationinstrument in which earth com pass and radio compass headings are indicated by the cathode ray trace of a cathode ray tube. These indications are obtained by the use of a novel arrangement of potentiometers. The radio bearings resulting from the algebraic combinations of the earth and radio compass headings are obtained by similar potentiometer arrangements whereby the radio bearings are directly indicated on the same tube as is used for in-V dicating the headings. It should be understood that errors in the earth or radio Compasses may be compensated by interposing suitable cams between the Compasses or compassrepeaters and potentiometers or by suitable modifications of the potentiometer resistance per unit length. In place of the resistances and circular contacts, a light beam may be projected through a slit or slits on one or more photoelectric tubes and the light beam varied by interposing pairs of circular shutters between the light beam and the slit. The algebraic products may be produced by successive control of the same light beam by twov shutters. It will be seen that the system lends itself to indicating at a plurality of pointsby connecting severalcathode ray tubes in parallel. It should be understood that electronic switching may be substituted for the motor driven switch. If direct map indication of bearing lines is not required, a direct current source may be used and the control electrode connection omitted; the indications will then be three single light spots, moving on concentric circles of different radii, and will bebrighter than Vthe radial lines obtained with alternating current operation.

I claim as my invention:

1. Ina radio navigation device, a cathode ray tube including deflecting electrodes', an Vearth compass, a radio compass, a source of current, means coupled to said earth compass and to said source for deriving rst deflecting potentials dependent upon said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and to said source for deriving second deflecting potentials .dependent upon said radio compass heading, means for applying said first and then said second deflecting potentials to said deflecting electrodes, an electrical network, means for applying said rst deflecting potential to said electrical network to establish a second source of current which varies as a function of said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and said second source for deriving third deflecting potentials dependent upon the algebraic sum of said earth and radio headings, and means for applying said third .deilecting potentials to said deflecting electrodes.

2. In a radio navigation device, a cathode ray tube including a beam intensity control electrode and deflecting electrodes, an earth compass, a radio compass, a source of current, means coupled to said earth compass and to said source for deriving rst deflecting potentials dependent upon said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and to said source for deriving second deflecting potentials dependent upon said radio compass heading, means for applying said iirst and then said second deecting potentials to said deflecting electrodes, an electrical network, means for applying said iirst deecting potential to said electrical network to establish a second source of current which varies as a function of said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and said second source for deriving third deecting potentials .dependent upon the algebraic sum of said earth and radio headings, means for applying said third dei'lecting potentials to said deflecting electrodes and a connection from said control electrode to said rst-mentioned source.

3. In a radio navigation device, a cathode ray tube including .deflecting electrodes, an earth compass, a radio compass, a source of alternating current, means coupled to said earth compass and to said source for deriving rst deflecting potentials dependent upon said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and to said source for deriving second deflecting potentials dependent upon said radio compass heading, means for applying said first and then said second deecting potentials to said deflecting electrodes, an electrical network, means for applying said rst deflecting potentials to said electrical network to establish a second source oi alternating current which varies as a function of said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and said second source for deriving third deecting potentials dependent upon the algebraic sum of said earth and radio headings, and means for applying said third deiecting potentials to said deflecting electrodes.

Ll. In a radio navigation device, a cathode ray tube including delecting electrodes, an earth compass, a radio compass, a source of current, means coupled to said earth compass and to said source for deriving rst deilecting potentials dependent upon said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and to said source for deriving second deflecting potentials dependent upon said radio compass heading, means for making said second deflecting potentials assume a scale of, values different from said first deflecting potentials, means for applying said rst and then said second deflecting potentials to said defieoting electrodes, a resistive network, means for applying said first deecting potentials to said resistive network to establish a second source of current which varies as a function of said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and said second source for deriving third deflecting potentials dependent upon the algebraic sum of said earth and radio headings, means for making said third deflecting potentials assume a scale of, values different from said rst and second deflecting potentials, and means for applying said third deflecting potentials to said deecting electrodes.

5. In a radio navigation device, a cathode ray tube including deflecting electrodes, an earth compass, a radio compass, a source of alternating current, means coupled to said earth compass and to said source for deriving irst deiieoting potentials dependent upon said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and to said source for deriving second deflecting potentials dependent upon said radio compass heading, means for making said second deflecting potentials assume a scale of values diierent from said rst deiiecting potentials, means for applying said rst and then said second deiiecting potentials to said deflecting electrodes, a resistive network means for applying said first deflecting potential to said resistive network to establish a second source of alternating current which varies as a function of said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and said second source for deriving third deecting potentials dependent upon the algebraic sum of said earth and radio headings, means for making said third deecting potentials assume a scale of values different from said rst and second deflecting potentials, and means for applying said third deecting potentials to said delecting electrodes.

6. In a radio navigation device, a cathode ray tube including a beam intensity control electrode and deecting electrodes, an earth compass, a radio compass, a source of alternating current, means coupled to said earth compass and to said source for deriving first deflecting potentials dependent upon said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and to said source for deriving second deiiecting potentials dependent upon said radio compass heading, means for making said second deflecting potentials assume a scale of values diierent from said rst deflecting potentials, means for applying said rst and then said second deilecting potentials to said deflecting electrodes, potentiometer means, means for applying said rst deecting potential to said potentiometer means to establish a second source ofL alternating current which varies as a function of said earth compass heading, means coupled to said radio compass and said second source for deriving third deflecting potentials dependent upon the algebraic sum of said earth and radio headings, means for making said third deecting potentials assume a scale of values different from said lirst and second deflecting potentials, means for applying said third defiecting potentials to said deecting electrodes, and a connection from said control electrode to said first-mentioned source.

DAVID G. C. LUCK. 

